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Headshot of Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward

Democrat, State Assembly
District 78, San Diego
Time in office:
  • Assembly: 2020-present

News coverage of Christopher Ward

Bio

Chris Ward, 49, was co-author of a bill, modeled after Texas’s abortion legislation, that aims to open gun manufacturers up to lawsuits from victims of gun violence. He was appointed in 2023 to head the Assembly housing committee. Prior to his election to the Assembly, he was on the San Diego City Council. He was chief of staff to former Assemblymember and Senator Marty Block. He’s a member of the Assembly LGBTQ caucus. He was an environmental planner at the firm EDAW. He has a degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in public policy and urban planning from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He and his partner have two children and a cairn terrier.

Leader Badges

Housing Badge

Ideology

Left

Moderate

Right

Bill Activity

0

Of 27 bills:
8 Passed
2 Failed
17 Pending

For this session year, this legislator initiated 27 bills: 8 passed, 2 failed, and 17 are currently pending.

Alignment Meter

See all-time percentage of this legislator’s alignment with any organization based on total votes.

xx%votes: xx

Financials

This feature tracks three sources of money intended to help a candidate win election: 1-Money given directly to a candidate’s committee, 2-Money given to an Independent Expenditure Committee, 3-Money given to a political party. (NOTE: Senators are elected every four years. Twenty of the 40 Senators are on the ballot in even-numbered years, so Senators may do little or no fundraising in the first two-year session of their Senate term).

Election

This display shows money given directly to the incumbent’s campaign committee (NOTE: The industry categories for donors come from Open Secrets, a nonpartisan research organization for campaign finance. Some contributions are “uncoded,” meaning they have not been assigned to an industry sector. As a result, the total for each sector is also an estimate).

Agriculture

$1.5K

Communications & Electronics

$27.2K

Construction

$9.3K

Energy & Natural Resources

$33.3K

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

$85.3K

General Business

$39.0K

Government Agencies/Education/Other

$78.0K

Health

$95.5K

Ideology/Single Issue

$18.5K

Labor

$208.0K

Lawyers & Lobbyists

$8.0K

Transportation

$10.0K

Uncoded

$184.7K

Unitemized Contributions

$157.9K

Candidate Donations

Individuals, corporations, organizations and committees are limited to a maximum donation to candidates of $5,500 for the primary and for the general elections.

Total
$956.1K

102.0% higher than the average legislators

Grand Total for Elections

$956.1K

69.0% higher than the average legislators

This is a total of the money targeting this legislator's campaign(s) including direct donations to the candidate, money spent by Independent Expenditure Committees and money from political parties.


Influence

There are three categories of donations to legislators after they are elected that encourage a working relationship between the donor and the legislator. The three categories are: 1-Gifts, 2-Travel, 3-Behests.

Giver
Value
Date
Description
Viejas Tribal Council$300Apr 22, 2022hotel stay
Illumina Geomics$193.75Sep 28, 2022Event Admission
San Diego Labor Council$150May 16, 2022lunch
California Jewish Legislative Caucus Leadership Foundation$142.77Aug 16, 2022Dinner
Downtown San Diego Partnership$105Mar 24, 2022Food and drink
CA Legislative LGBT Foundation$99.53Jun 8, 2022Pride Celebration
California Faculty Association$95.18Apr 19, 2022Food and Drink
Equality California$90Mar 22, 2022Awards
San Diego State University$78.12Oct 3, 2022tickets
California Democratic Party$67.87Aug 16, 2022Lunch
Showing 1-10 of 26 rows

Gifts

Legislators are not allowed to accept gifts of more than $10 per month from registered lobbyists. Gifts from any other single source are limited to $590 in a calendar year.

Gift Received Rating
#30/120

This legislator is ranked 30th highest for the amount of personal gifts received.

Committees

Most of the policy work in the state Capitol is done in “Standing” committees. Legislators also work on budget subcommittees. There are also “Special” and “Select” committees with a more narrow topic focus. And there are “Joint” committees with members from the Senate and Assembly.

Hearings

Featured Comments

Below are links to the video and transcript of recent, substantive comments by this legislator in committee hearings or floor sessions.

Preview image for AB 140612MIN
Jan 29, 2026

AB 1406

Attached residential condominium sales: liquidated damages.

Preview image for AB 10701MIN
Jan 26, 2026

AB 1070

Residential developments: building standards: review.

Preview image for AB 107012MIN
Jan 14, 2026

AB 1070

Residential developments: building standards: review.

Preview image for AB 140653MIN
Jan 13, 2026

AB 1406

Attached residential condominium sales: liquidated damages.

Preview image for AB 2534MIN
Sep 12, 2025

AB 253

California Residential Private Permitting Review Act: residential building permits.

Preview image for AB 51841SEC
Sep 10, 2025

AB 518

Low-impact camping areas.

Preview image for AB 47445SEC
Sep 10, 2025

AB 474

Housing discrimination: nonprofit home-sharing program: eligibility for public social services.

Preview image for AB 8249SEC
Sep 10, 2025

AB 82

Health care: legally protected health care activity.

Preview image for AB 93042SEC
Sep 9, 2025

AB 930

Elections and voting procedures.

Preview image for AB 36837SEC
Sep 9, 2025

AB 368

Energy: building standards: passive house standards.

Preview image for AB 11031MIN
Sep 9, 2025

AB 1103

Controlled substances: research.

Preview image for HR 447MIN
Aug 18, 2025

HR 44

No Bills Identified

View All Hearings

District

View of map with yellow overlay for Assembly District 78 boundaries.
District 78 is a Safe Democratic District
Democratic Party candidate has a very high likelihood of winning in an election

Previous Election (2024):

Chris Ward
100%
WON

Party Registration

Census Data

Median age0102030

Median age